Poker as therapy

[Vega33]

This sentiment has no doubt been posted before, but as this group acts as a personal venting forum, allow me to add mine.

I have read the basic hold em books and am familiar with poker theory. Nevertheless, I don't expect to ever be more than an average/break even player, which is fine as I have a career outside of poker.

I drive to the casino every Saturday to re-charge my batteries and my main goal is not to win since I play how the books say you should play and the cards take care of the rest. My goal is to use poker as a metaphor for life and how I think I should live it.

Specifically, my goal is to play poker in a an almost zen-like state of accepting whatever cards are dealt and any bad beats and my absolute goal is NOT TO TILT. Because if you tilt at the poker table you will tilt at life when bad beats are dealt you there, as they inevitably will be.

To my way of thinking, a good day of poker is one in which I am able to stay cool and collected and enjoy myself even if I'm losing. And on the days when the cards are falling my way, I am happy but I don't go overboard, because I know that I'm just using the same basic strategy I use when I'm losing.

I've found that if I've managed to avoid tilting in either direction then I consider my day of poker to be a good one and it helps me for the rest of the week as I deal with the cards which are dealt to me in real life.

[holyfield5]

tissue please

[gjpure]

I like it.

[Manomanman]

Interesting perspective.

[recallme]

The reason for tilt is dissapointment and anger, but theres no reason you could be either of those.
You play for heaving fun and staying calm. Your goals doesn`t have any connection to poker. You could as well be sportsbetting and putting your money on the favorite.

As soonas you play to win at the game it´s get tougher, because your goal isn`t longer in your might alone.

[BigBuffet]

I agree with OP and believe that if you apply his philososphy when you play to win, results will improve.

Recallme is implying that when you play to win, you need to bear down as you would in a field sports event. I don't believe you can put your brain into Vince Lombardi mode and succeed in a cerebral activity.

I believe that there is a tightrope we have to walk between trying to hard and not trying hard enough.

The process of walking that tightrope is as OP describes.
Making the best play, not being results oriented, being relaxed, talking to the other players and not being desperate about the money will actually give better results because your mind will process everything better and the opponents will not see you as forcing your plays or being desperate.

I also think OP has a good point about poker play as a metaphor for our lives in general.

[JayKon]

[ QUOTE ]
To my way of thinking, a good day of poker is one in which I am able to stay cool and collected and enjoy myself even if I'm losing. And on the days when the cards are falling my way, I am happy but I don't go overboard, because I know that I'm just using the same basic strategy I use when I'm losing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, that is one way of defining success. Your challange is to control yourself and success/failure is defined by how well you maintain your mental state.

Is that all there is, my friend? Then lets keep dancing.

I beleive that maintaining a positive mental state is the most important part of the game, followed by the knowledge you get from books, or experience. However, to stop there is like buying a high performance sports car for a daily commute.

The higher challange is two-fold:

1) What do the other players have?
2) When I have them beat, what is the maximum I can extract from them?

This ain't easy, but if it was, anyone could do it. I love this challange and it is why I love the game.

So, basically I do agree with you 100%, I'm just saying that there is more there for you.